The invention relates generally to a connector means for terminating the individual conductors of a flat cable and more particularly to a connector means for terminating the individual wires of a multi-wire cable directly into slotted terminals contained within the connector and with the other end being optionally a female receptable, a post or any other desired type of termination desired.
In the prior art, and particularly in the telephone industry terminations of flat wire cables currently are made by means of paddle boards which consist of a small piece of printed circuit board to which the individual wires of the cable are soldered. Printed circuit paths then extend the soldered connections of the individual wires of the cable into a connector which is physically attached to the small portion of the circuit board. The aforementioned connector contains desired terminals, such as female terminals for the reception of terminal posts, or alternatively, some other type of terminal such as a terminal post. Such paddle board arrangement, however, is expensive and time consuming in assembly as well as in parts since it requires the soldering of the ends of the individual conductors of the cable onto the paddle board and also the soldering of the terminals in the connector to the other ends of the circuit paths on the paddle board.
Another difficulty encountered in the use of paddle boards is that each solder joint usually is done individually by a human operator. Accordingly the solder joints vary considerably even when done by the same person. Some of the solder joints are better than others and some are likely to be subject to early failure.